Heavy metal
The heavy metal, or simply metal (sometimes pronounced as métal) —in Spanish translated as "heavy metal" -, is a musical genre that was born in the late sixties and early seventies both in the United Kingdom and in the United States, whose origins come from blues rock, hard rock and psychedelic rock. It is characterized mainly by its strong and distorted guitars, emphatic rhythms, the sounds of the bass and drums are denser than usual and the voice is generally high-pitched or guttural.
To this day there is no precise consensus that defines what was the first heavy metal band, some mention Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple, while others leave that place exclusively to Black Sabbath. Around that same time, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, many bands arose that, although they did not have the media impact of those mentioned above, were also a great contribution to the birth of the genre such as Blue Cheer, Blue Öyster Cult, Sir Lord Baltimore, Budgie, UFO, Scorpions and Wishbone Ash; Subsequently, groups such as Rainbow, Judas Priest (the latter introduced the combination of the double bass drum with fast semiquaver rhythms of bass and guitar, and eliminated the last influences of blues), Motörhead (who included some elements of the punk rock, giving a new emphasis to aggressiveness and speed), and the new wave of British heavy metal (commonly abbreviated as NWOBHM) led by Iron Maiden, Saxon and Def Leppard and of which they were part also bands like Diamond Head or Venom, which gave a new value to the genre, leading to the birth of a subsequent subculture on both sides of the Atlantic (the NWOBHM notably influencing the emergence of new American bands such as Manowar, Savatage or Queensrÿche at the end of of that decade).
With the arrival of the eighties, the first subgenres of metal began to appear; on the one hand the glam metal (headed by bands like Europe, Bon Jovi, Van Halen, W.A.S.P., Whitesnake or Mötley Crüe) that led sales and music charts in the main markets and on the other extreme metal that came from the underground scene. From the latter, the thrash metal led by the so-called "Big Four" Americans (Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax) and with an important repercussion in Germany (emergence of bands like Kreator, Sodom, Destruction or Tankard). However, in the following decade this commercial success declined due to the rise of new alternative sounds not typical of metal, although in continental Europe, Japan and Latin America they continued to be popular and subgenres such as i>power metal (highlighting bands such as Helloween, Blind Guardian, Gamma Ray, Stratovarius or Rhapsody), in the same way that other new subgenres emerged and resisted commercially at a global level, such as groove (Panther). At the end of that decade, even more extreme genres emerged, such as death metal and black metal, which had a boom at the beginning of the nineties.
By the new millennium, there was already an infinite number of subgenres, each one with specific characteristics and with influences from other styles such as classical music, industrial music, funk and rap i>, for example, which have expanded the definition of metal to the present day. In turn, its popularity has increased in recent years, mainly in Europe, United States, Latin America and Japan. Metal music is more favorably accepted in the Nordic countries than in other regions due to the social and political openness in these regions; Finland especially has often been called the "Promised Land of Heavy metal", because today there are more than 50 metal bands for every 100,000 inhabitants, more than any other nation in the world.
Etymology
To this day the exact origin of why the term heavy metal is used in the musical field is unknown. What is certain is that for several centuries this phrase was used in chemistry and metallurgy, and refers to some chemical elements that have certain characteristics in common (heavy metal). One of the first uses in popular culture occurred in 1961, when the American writer William Burroughs created the character Uranian Willy: The Heavy Metal Kid in his novel The Soft Machine. In his next work Nova Express in 1964, Burroughs redeveloped the term to identify a race of aliens from Uranus and also a type of music that listened to a second race; the insect people.
According to the music historian Ian Christe its definition would come from the hippie language; heavy would be a synonym for powerful or deep and metal would describe a state of mind such as heaviness. In this sense the word heavy would refer to the bands that played with a higher amplification than the popular music of the mid-sixties played. Regarding its musical context, the first references to heavy metal would be Iron Butterfly's debut album called precisely Heavy, and its first use in the lyrics of a song would be in « Born to Be Wild" by American Steppenwolf published in June 1968.
On the other hand, the first written document that used the term to identify a type of rock music appeared in a review by Rolling Stone magazine, authored by Barry Gifford. Said review was written on May 11, 1968 and dealt with the album A Long Time Comin' by the band The Electric Flag where Gifford commented: "No one who has listened to Mike Bloomfield - as a singer or instrumentalist—in recent years he expected something like this. This is a new soul music, the synthesis of white soul and heavy metal rock".
Until the mid-1970s, various magazine critics such as the aforementioned Rolling Stone, The Village Voice or Creem coined the definition downer rock which in our language was defined as disappointing rock, that is, a type of music that went against what was known until then, such as the music of The Beatles by example. According to the publication Classic Rock, downer rock revolved around the excessive use of quaaludes and wine. However, that term did not last long, being replaced in its totally for heavy metal. i> were synonymous, which is why many of the bands known today as heavy metal were considered as hard rock and vice versa.
Features
From the beginning heavy metal was characterized by strong and distorted guitars, along with emphatic rhythms. The sounds of the bass and drums are denser than usual and the voices are generally high. Over the years and with the emergence of their subgenres, these characteristics were emphasized, altered or omitted, and even on certain occasions they were Added new attributes. According to New York Times journalist Jon Pareles: “In the taxonomy of popular music, heavy metal is the largest subspecies of hard rock.. That is, with less syncopation, less blues, more showmanship and more brute force". The typical band line-up consists of a drummer, a bassist, a lead guitarist, a rhythm guitarist and a singer who can sometimes be an instrumentalist. It can also include a keyboardist to thicken the sound in live concerts or studio productions, without necessarily being an active member of the group.
The electric guitar and the power it projects through amplification has historically been the key element of the genre, whose sound comes from a combined use of high volumes and heavy distortion. Over the years guitarists have have innovated in the techniques and effects produced by the instrument such as the triplet, seisillo, palm mute, bend, hammer-on, tapping and sweep-picking mainly. In addition, the riff, the power chord and especially the solo that define a song and the subgenre in which it is performed are very important. The guitarist also plays an important role in heavy metal that sometimes causes a friendly tension with the vocalist, to define who is the frontman of a group.
On the other hand, and as mentioned above, a band can have two guitarists; one soloist and the other rhythmic, but there are cases where it is only one or in specific situations it can even be three. In addition, in some bands the guitarists apply the term twin-guitars —twin guitars in our language— where both can be soloists, simultaneously playing a solo or interspersing their participation within it. One of the first bands that applied this concept was Wishbone Ash, however, several critics place Judas Priest and Scorpions -the latter during their early years- as the groups that enhanced and swelled this technique.
Another important element is the voice that according to the critic Simon Frith; "...the tone [of the voice] is much more important than the lyrics of the songs." The voice was initially characterized as high-pitched, with heavy use of vibrato and a huge octave span. Some of the singers who fit these factors are Deep Purple's Ian Gillan, Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson, Scorpions' Klaus Meine and the late Ronnie James Dio, for example. Another of the techniques that is used and that not all singers have is falsetto, some of them have perfect command of this technique without affecting their voice, such as Rob Halford from Judas Priest and King Diamond. Over the years, some vocalists used a rougher tone and further away from the sharpness of the genre. One of the first was Motörhead's Lemmy Kilmister, who included a scratchy voice and was a key point in the later singers of thrash metal, death metal and black metal. These are characterized by having a guttural voice; a technique that uses low sounds, similar to growls and that sometimes causes a difficult understanding of the lyrics of their songs. Despite the fact that the voices of metal are mainly male, women have also dabbled in the genre as is the case of Kim McAuliffe from Girlschool and the German Doro, considered the "queen of heavy metal".
For their part, the bass, keyboards and drums play an important role in the rhythm section. The bass provides a range of bass sounds that are crucial in music, ranging in complexity from being just rhythm accompaniment, to participating in the interplay of lead and rhythm guitar. Like guitarists, the bassist can use some techniques on the strings as tapping and the number of them can vary from four to six depending on the subgenre that is interpreted. In certain situations, the bassist is also usually the main musician of a group such as Motörhead for example. As for the battery, it must create a strong and constant rhythm based on speed, power and precision. According to authors Mick Berry and Jason Gianni: "The drummer requires an exceptional amount of stamina, considerable speed, coordination, and absolute dexterity to play the intricate patterns of metal". typical of the metal drummer is the use of the cymbal choke, which is to play the cymbals and silence them quickly with the hand. In addition to this, the configuration of the number of drums, drums and cymbals is usually higher than what is used in other types of rock music.
Finally, keyboardists can flesh out a song's sound with organ, synths, and keyboards themselves. Its sound comes mainly from psychedelic rock and is performed mostly as a rhythmic accompaniment to give a darker atmosphere. Even so, there are cases where the keyboardist can perform solos such as Jon Lord in Deep Purple, Mic Michaeli in Europe, or even be the leader of the band and be the one who stands out the most as in the case of André Andersen, keyboardist and leader of Royal Hunt. Another musician in the band can also fulfill this role, as is the case of guitarist Eddie Van Halen of the band Van Halen. Additionally, there are situations where the keyboardist may be a session player in studio productions or live concerts.
Musical language
Rhythm and time
According to sociologist focused on musical culture, Deena Weinstein, the rhythm of the genre is emphatic and contains deliberate tensions. Weinstein notes that the different sound effects available to the drummers provide a rhythmic pattern that assumes great complexity. In many of his songs the main groove is short, two to three notes long, usually short. They are made up of eighth notes and sixteenth notes. This rhythmic structure is mainly accompanied by various staccatos, made by the rhythm guitarist's palm mute technique.
The main characteristic of rhythm is the riff that creates the thematic hook of a song, called a hook. This structure is also used in a slower way, adding whole chords and whole chords to create a power ballad. As for his tempo, he was generally slow during his early years, but from the mid-seventies this increased, giving rise to speed metal and later to power metal. The tempos of metal range from the slow ballad (60 beats per minute) to the extremely fast ones created by the blast beat (350 beats per minute). minute).
Typical structure of harmony
The heavy metal is generally based on the riff which is created from three main harmonic traits; modal scale progressions, tritone and/or chromatic progressions and the use of the pedal point. Traditional or also called classical heavy metal tended to use modal scales, especially the Aeolian mode and the Phrygian mode, which in practical terms and to give an example would be (la, si, do, re, mi, fa, sol y la) and (fa, sol ♭, la ♭, si ♭, c, re ♭, mi ♭ and fa) respectively.
The tritone has been used in brass in various chord progressions and is defined as an interval spanning three whole tones, for example do and fa ♯. Such dissonance was prohibited in medieval church music, as it the monks considered what they called diabolus in música, which into Spanish translates as “the devil in music” to be tones of the devil. From the beginning the genre used the tritone in both the riff and the guitar solos, and because of this and during its early years, it was dubbed devil music.
For its part, the pedal point has generally been used as the harmonic base of many metal songs. In simple words it can be defined as a sustained low tone, by which it moves through others (tones) providing a change in harmony.
Volume
The need for increased volume came from artists like Cream, Jimmi Hendrix, The Who and especially Blue Cheer, who in the words of lead singer Dickie Peterson: "All we knew was we wanted more power". psychologist Jeffrey Arnett in his book Metalhead considers the volume of concerts to be like "the sensory equivalent of war". For her part, Dr. Weinstein clarifies that it is vital for any band of metal and also argues that: «...in the same way that melody is the main element of pop and rhythm is the main focus of house music; sound, timbre and powerful volume are the key points of heavy metal".
In the mid-eighties the volume was as important as the show itself for some groups like Accept, Motörhead and Manowar. Even the latter entered the Guinness Book of Records in 1984 as the "loudest band in the world". However, ten years later, they broke their own record as during a live performance in Hannover, they hit 129.5 decibels generated by ten tons of amplifiers. Even so, the record was not recorded in the Guinness Book after it was removed from the category on the grounds that it will not encourage hearing damage.
Relationship with classical music
From the beginning heavy metal has had a strong relationship with classical music, which according to musicologist Robert Walser; "He's the biggest influence on the genre since its early years." He argues that guitarists are the most influenced and that the adaptation and appropriation of classical music developed the virtuosity of these musicians. In an article written for Grove Music Online, Walser mentions; "...the eighties brought a widespread adaptation of the chord practices of eighteenth-century European models, especially Johann Sebastian Bach and Antonio Vivaldi." For his part, Kurt Bachmann of the band Believer opines that; "Classical music and metal are probably the genres that have the most in common in terms of feeling, texture and creativity".
Guitarist Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple has been considered the first interlocutor between classical music and heavy metal being Concerto for Group and Orchestra of said band, the first production that brought together an orchestra and a rock group. Subsequently, Jason Becker, Uli Jon Roth, Marty Friedman, Eddie Van Halen, Walter Giardino, Randy Rhoads and Yngwie Malmsteen placed greater emphasis on mixing both musical styles and led to the definitive creation of the neoclassical metal subgenre in the mid-1980s. Already at the end of the nineties and the beginning of the XXI century, various groups have resumed the relationship of their music with symphony orchestras to studio productions or live concerts such as Rage, Scorpions, Metallica and Kiss, among others.
Issues and controversy
The thematic content of heavy metal has long been the subject of critics, whose opinions range from that they are just juvenile and banal themes to that they are defenders of the occult, fascism, nihilism, militarism and misogyny. According to critics David Hatch and Stephen Millward, metal bands have concentrated their lyrics "on the dark and depressing stuff, to an extent hitherto unprecedented for any form." of popular music". According to them, Black Sabbath's album Paranoid would be the precursor of dark lyrics, whose lyrics range from personal trauma in "Paranoid" and "Fairies Wear Boots" to themes of wars as in "War Pigs".
It should be mentioned that the topics covered in the songs depend exclusively on the bands and the subgenre being performed. During the seventies, groups such as the aforementioned Black Sabbath, Rainbow, Blue Öyster Cult, Judas Priest and Scorpions, among others, used themes such as the occult, violence, sex, death, religion, politics and social criticism, fantasy in several of their songs., alcoholism, drug addiction and love. With the arrival of the eighties and with the creation of the respective subgenres, these concepts were addressed with greater specification, such as extreme metal (rape, annihilation, war, suicide, political corruption, and inquisition, etc.), the glam metal (sex, orgies, parties, drugs and prostitution) and in the New Wave of British heavy metal (speed, motorcycles, mythology and science fiction). In the 1990s and 2000s, nu metal and industrial metal would also deal with existential angst, child abuse, corporate greed, sensationalism in the media, and the consequences of misusing high technology.
Despite the diversity of concepts that gangs deal with, they were not without legal and political problems. During the 1980s, the Parents Music Resource Center asked the United States Congress to regulate the content of the music industry, especially heavy metal songs. In addition, they created the list Filthy Fifteen, the fifteen disgusting songs in Spanish, which were songs that according to them should be censored and of which nine are by groups of the genre, including "Possessed" by Venom and "Into the Coven" by Mercyful Fate This incident gave rise to the creation of the famous "Parental Advisory" tags. A later case is the confrontation between the Antifa political organization and various black metal groups that have been accused of being fascists. Other cases that had a media impact were the participation in the Assault on the United States Capitol in 2021 by the musicians. Jon Schaffer and David Gunn which ended in the arrest of the former. This caused controversy and opposition from other musicians and bands of the genre. One more case with media impact was the response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine by various bands and performers of the genre whose expression of solidarity towards Ukraine and condemnation of Russia's actions have polarized the heavy metal community due to misinformation regarding the conflict and its controversial media coverage. Other cases such as Dee Snider's support for freedom of expression, The accusations against Marilyn Manson regarding the Columbine High School Massacre and subsequent accusations of sexual abuse, the protests by the band Rage Against the Machine, and the start of a tour in 2015 of the System of a Down band in memory of the Armenian Genocide.
Finally, in some countries heavy metal has been declared a threat to traditional religious values or governmental ideology. In certain states such as Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon, Iran, Cuba, China, North Korea, and Malaysia, there have been cases of musicians and followers of the genre who have been arrested and imprisoned for trying, or according to their laws "defending", the aforementioned issues. In some of these countries, their authorities have begun to relax their censorship and restrictions on the genre.
Heavy metal as a subculture
Dr. Weinstein argues that heavy metal has outlived many other rock genres, in large part due to the emergence of a large, largely male subculture. her own words: "This one is only tolerant of those who follow her dress, appearance, and behavior codes," furthermore; "It is not only strengthened by going to a concert and sharing certain elements in fashion, but also metal magazines and lately web pages". establishes its own code of authenticity, which places several demands on artists: «They must be completely dedicated to their music and loyal to the subculture that supports them, they must be disinterested in radio or the so-called mainstream and they should never be sold." In addition, and for some fans, opposition to established authority and separation from the rest of society are added.
For the musician and filmmaker Rob Zombie, he affirms that metal is "outside music for outside children". from fans to rank and reject some artists, and in certain cases other fans. It is also typical of fans to consider as posers those who claim to be part of the subculture, but who lack authenticity and sincerity."
Appearance and image
Image and appearance play an important role for some artists, they even go hand in hand with lyrics and sound. This image is expressed in the album covers, logos, scenery, costumes and in music videos.
A hallmark of artists and fans alike—though not in all cases—is long shaggy hair, which Weinstein says is the "most crucial distinguishing feature of metal fashion." Originally adopted from the hippie subculture, the hair of metalheads in the 1980s and 1990s "symbolized hatred, anguish, and disenchantment with the system of a generation." who doesn't seem to feel at home," according to journalist Nader Raham. Furthermore, Raham comments that long hair gave the metal community "the power they needed to rebel against anything in general".
The classic fan uniform roughly consists of jeans, black T-shirts, leather or jean jackets, patch vest, and military boots. For their part, the shirts are generally stamped with the logos or other visual representation of the favorite bands. In addition, they can include elements of masochism and sexual fetishism such as chains, metal spikes, skulls, crosses and leather. In the 1980s a variety of sources, from punk and gothic music to horror movies, have influenced this superficial or visual aspect of metal.
The first major band to dress in leather was Judas Priest when in 1978 its members K.K. Downing and Rob Halford began dressing that way at several of their concerts.
Also and in the seventies many artists began to use bright, colorful and peculiarly shaped instruments to enhance their performances. This style was very important for the glam metal bands, who had long, dyed hair with an aggressive look and which gave rise to the so-called hair metal. They also owned flashy clothing, including skintight leopard shirts and vests, tight-fitting jean boots, spandex or leather pants, and accessories such as ribbons and jewelry. Makeup was equally important, consisting of eyeliners and lipsticks. For its part, in Japan and influenced by the band X Japan, the movement called visual kei arose, which includes many bands that are not necessarily metalheads and that give importance to elaborate costumes, hair styles and makeup.
Physical gestures
Within the heavy metal subculture, the metalhead, heavies or originally called metalheads have created certain physical postures that go in support of dress, character and slang. One of them is headbanging, which is shaking the head to the rhythm of the music and which is emphasized by long hair, and which was created by various musicians in live performances.
Another of the typical gestures is the horned hand or also called the "hand of the devil", which consists of clenching the hand, but keeping the index and little fingers stretched out. One of the first to emphasize this position was vocalist Ronnie James Dio, mainly while he was in Black Sabbath and later Dio. According to him it is a popular sign of an Italian town where his grandmother lived, who was called malocchio and that served to scare away evil spirits. This gesture is also attributed to bassist Gene Simmons of Kiss, who made it on the cover of the 1977 album Love Gun, but it differs from the previous one by having the thumb also extended.
Dr. Weinstein also mentions that dancing is not part of the metalheads and that it is due to the majority of the audience being male, and the "extreme heterosexual ideology of the audience". She distinguishes two types of postures that replace the dance; the headbanging and the stretching of the arm, which in turn is a sign of contempt and a rhythmic gesture. Finally, he adds that the air guitar is very popular among fans >, which consists of pretending to play a guitar both at concerts and when listening to a record at home.
History
Background: late 1950s and mid-1960s
The way of playing the guitar in terms of power chord and riff came from the fifties, mainly from electric blues and memphis guitarists blues such as Joe Hill Louis, Willie Johnson and especially Pat Hare. The latter played one of the first distortions on the power chord, on the song "Cotton Crop Blues" by the vocalist American James Cotton and dating from 1954. Already in the late fifties and early sixties the songs "Rumble" by Link Wray (1958), "Let's Go Trippin'" (1961) and "Misirlou" (1962) by guitarist Dick Dale, and the cover of "Louie Louie" by The Kingsmen (1963) are considered the standard of garage rock i> and with it an early influence of heavy metal.
However, the genre's direct influence came from blues and that had a great impact on British bands in the mid-sixties. Groups like The Rolling Stones and The Yardbirds developed blues rock with classic blues themes, but with an accelerated tempo. As a consequence of this musical experiment, British bands developed a new style of distorted and loud guitars, which would become one of the characteristics of the genre. Within this new sound the song "You Really Got Me" by The Kinks (1964) played an important role.
The emerging distorted sound of guitars was facilitated by the new generation of amps and effects pedals such as the fuzz tone, which guitarists such as Dave Davies (The Kinks), Pete Townshend (The Who) and Jeff Beck (The Yardbirds). For their part, the drumming styles of blues rock, based on small and simple patterns, were replaced by a more complex and sonorous technique to be equated with the volume of amplified guitars. Similarly, vocalists modified their technique and increased their reliance on amplification, often achieving more stylized and dramatic vocals.
The combination of blues rock with psychedelic rock largely formed the original basis of heavy metal. One of the most important bands to fuse these genres were the British Cream, who exemplified the concept of power trio that would later become commonplace within metal., his first two albums; Fresh Cream from 1966 and Disraeli Gears from 1967 are seen as essential prototypes of the future genre. Similarly, the debut album by The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Are You Experienced (1967), also achieved great influence mainly due to Hendrix's technique and his song "Purple Haze", which for certain critics is identified as the first hit of heavy metal.
Metal in the late sixties and early seventies
Until today there is no clear consensus on the part of critics, to define which was the first heavy metal band. Many of the American critics give their support to Led Zeppelin, while the British commentators give credit to Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. Also and in other cases Iron Butterfly, Steppenwolf, Vanilla Fudge or Blue Cheer are named as the pioneers of the genre.
What they do agree on is that in 1968 the sound that would be called heavy metal began to be created. In January of that year, the Americans Blue Cheer released their single "Summertime Blues" —cover by Eddie Cochran— which was taken from their debut album Vincebus Eruptum and is considered one one of the first heavy metal records. Six months later Steppenwolf debuted with their self-titled album, which included the single "Born to Be Wild" which alludes to motorcycles with the term "heavy metal thunder".. Already in June Iron Butterfly released the album In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida which contained the hit of the same name and which was also postulated as one of the first recordings of the genre.
Other productions that are considered to be proto-heavy metal include the album Truth by The Jeff Beck Group released in August 1968, the song "Helter Skelter » by The Beatles and which went on sale in November, and the songs «I See You» and «Old Man Going» from the album S.F. Sorrow by the British The Pretty Things, released in December of the same year. In addition, some critics have considered that the bands MC5 and The Stooges directly and mainly influenced the distortion of the sound of the later groups of punk and later heavy metal. Pink Floyd's Nile Song" are considered to be the heaviest songs the group ever created. King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man" was also branded as proto-heavy metal.
In 1969 Led Zeppelin debuted with their self-titled album that included two crucial aspects for the emerging genre; strong and distorted guitars by Jimmy Page and a dramatic voice and high treble by Robert Plant. At the same time and at the end of that year Ian Gillan and Ritchie Blackmore renewed the sound of Deep Purple, leaving behind the experimentation of styles of their early years to fully assimilate hard rock and to a large extent heavy metal which they captured on their album In Rock. In the early 1970s, Black Sabbath debuted with their self-titled album, whose songs were loaded with dark lyrics. Likewise, guitarist Tony Iommi, after suffering an accident at work that meant losing the tips of his middle and ring fingers of his right hand, adapted some rubber prostheses on his fingers and lowered the tuning of the guitar in order to that the ropes would be less tense so as not to cause him pain. In this way, he created the characteristic tonality of the genre (C♯).
Even so, some critics have considered that in 1970 a main development was given to this new musical genre, mainly by the productions Black Sabbath and Paranoid by Black Sabbath and In Rock by Deep Purple. In that same year two British bands debuted but with a different sound to the one they later became known for; Uriah Heep with Very 'eavy... Very 'umble and UFO with UFO 1. For their part, Wishbone Ash made their debut with their self-titled album that contained the first twin-guitars. It is worth mentioning that the dark lyrics of Black Sabbath and Uriah Heep were very important for the development of metal, to such an extent that Led Zeppelin assimilated these elements in their fourth album released in 1971. These same dark lyrics they were also fundamental for the debut of Budgie in 1971, who were one of the first heavy metal groups to be born as a power trio.
For their part, the Americans Bloodrock released their self-titled album in March of the same year and included a metal riff, sadistic and macabre lyrics, and brusque voices. In December Sir Lord Baltimore began his career with Kingdom Come, considered a key point for the subsequent progress of metal made in the United States. Other American bands that identified with the emerging metal were Blue Öyster Cult (1972), Aerosmith (1973) and Kiss (1974), which at the time was considered the most extreme rock. While from Germany came the exponents Lucifer's Friend (1970) and Scorpions with Lonesome Crow from 1972. Other groups also identified with the newly created heavy metal , despite having more characteristics of hard rock and progressive rock as is the case of Queen with their homonymous production of 1973, the Irish Thin Lizzy (1971), the Scots Nazareth (1971) and the Australians AC/DC with High Voltage from 1975.
Special mention goes to the British Judas Priest who made their debut in 1974 with Rocka Rolla, and who according to Christe: «... unified and amplified Thin Lizzy's dueling guitars, the staged by Alice Cooper and the dramatic voices of Queen. For the first time, heavy metal became a true genre unto itself."
Heavy metal in the mid-seventies
During the first years of the second half of the seventies, the popularity of metal continued to rise in several Anglo-Saxon and European countries and in Japan. In turn, new groups such as Motörhead and Rainbow appeared, the latter formed after the departure of Ritchie Blackmore from Deep Purple. For the critic Steve Huey of Allmusic, he considers that 1976 is the crucial year for the evolution of the genre thanks to the albums Rising by Rainbow, Virgin Killer by Scorpions and Sad Wings of Destiny by Judas Priest.
The various groups continued adding new attributes to the genre, such as Judas Priest with Sin After Sin from 1977, which introduced the combination of the double bass drum with fast sixteenth-note rhythms of bass and guitar, that came to define the genre. This band, along with Motörhead, UFO, Scorpions and Rainbow, also accelerated the tempo of their songs giving way to speed metal. Finally, concert tours were becoming more extensive and performances as such were becoming more elaborate.
During those years new groups began to appear on the UK underground scene such as Iron Maiden, Saxon, Def Leppard and Diamond Head, among many more. These influenced by the mixture of traditional heavy metal and the speed of punk gave way to the so-called New Wave of British heavy metal. For their part, bands such as Van Halen, Dokken and Quiet Riot arose in the United States, which would achieve great success in world markets in the following decade.
However, during the last years of the decade several classic bands broke up or went on hiatus such as Blue Cheer, Steppenwolf or Deep Purple to name a few. In addition, sales of metal decreased drastically due to the rise of punk rock, disco music and more commercial rock.
The eighties and commercial success
During the eighties the popularity of metal returned to the main markets of the world, establishing a commercial success never before seen before. On the one hand, this new wave of British groups positioned the genre in the top ten of the English charts with albums such as the homonymous by Iron Maiden and Wheels of Steel by Saxon, as well as by Heaven and Hell by Black Sabbath, Ace of Spades by Motörhead and British Steel by Judas Priest. Even Motörhead's live No Sleep 'til Hammersmith topped the UK Albums Chart, becoming the first album of the genre to reach the top 1 on said list.
This popularity also helped other musical artists such as the Michael Schenker Group, Gary Moore, Ozzy Osbourne and Gillan to reach the top of several European charts. With less success in sales but no less important groups like Diamond Head, Venom, Praying Mantis, Angel Witch or Blitzkreig had an important influence on the development of later heavy metal.
Even so, the British scene was not the only one to popularize heavy metal, as from the early and mid-1970s the genre gained enormous attention in Germany. Both Scorpions and Lucifer's Friend crafted German hard rock/heavy metal, which was later further developed by Accept, Running Wild, Axel Rudi Pell, Grave Digger and Warlock. For its part, in the United States a new wave of more underground bands arose, as opposed to glam metal such as Manilla Road, Alcatrazz and Manowar. Through their lyrics, the latter gave a philosophical approach to the meaning of metal and the pride of being a metalhead, under the slogan that heavy metal will never die. However, these would not be the only countries to develop metal, since Barón Rojo, Obús, Ángeles del Infierno and Los Suaves emerged from Spain, and the first South American groups such as Riff also appeared from Argentina. and V8. For its part, Krokus would appear from Switzerland and Europe from Sweden.
Between 1983 and 1984 the sales of heavy metal bands increased from 8% to 20% of all records sold in the United States. This rise was also reflected in several European countries and Japan, and which was supported by the media including the nascent MTV and the professional magazines Metal Hammer and Kerrang!. In 1985 Billboard magazine stated: «...metal has broadened its audience; metal music is no longer the exclusive domain of adolescent boys. Said audience ranges from women (university students), pre-adolescents and more". In addition, the genre was supported by the appearance of great festivals such as Monsters of Rock, Rock in Rio and above all by the US Festival of 1983, which during the day of heavy metal where Van Halen, Scorpions, Judas Priest, Ozzy Osbourne, Mötley Crüe, Triumph and Quiet Riot performed, brought together more than 375,000 people, making it the busiest day of the entire event.
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The decade also saw the rise and fall of one of the most controversial subgenres, glam metal, which originated on the west coast of the United States specifically in the clubs and bars of the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. This new wave of bands were inspired by traditional heavy metal, the hard rock of Van Halen Def Leppard, Alice Cooper Kiss and Aerosmith but mainly in the visual aesthetics of glam rock from the seventies.
The first groups began to appear on the American scene in the early eighties such as Kix (1981), Twisted Sister with Under the Blade from 1982, Mötley Crüe with Too Fast for Love from 1981, Ratt with Out of the Cellar from 1984 and W.A.S.P. with their self-titled album from 1984. In addition, these groups had a more glamorous style of dress; often colorful leather pants and jacket, jean boots, headscarves, long curly hair, and frequent use of makeup. This new style also made its way to Spain where bands such as Sangre Azul, Bella Bestia and Niagara emerged.
By the mid-1980s glam metal dominated the music charts, music on television, and the main concert circuits in the United States. In addition, a large number of groups continued to appear as Poison, Cinderella, Warrant and especially Bon Jovi, who thanks to their album Slippery When Wet became one of the best-selling glam groups of that decade. However, glam slowly began its decline during the last years of the decade, due to the appearance of new bands such as Guns N' Roses with a sound more charged to the hard rock of the seventies and Jane's Addiction identified as one of the first exponents of alternative metal.
New metal subgenres: the eighties, nineties and 2000s
During the eighties many subgenres developed away from the commercial scene and since then there have been several attempts to classify this world of underground metal, both by editors of Allmusic or Rolling Stone, as well as by critic Garry Sharpe-Young. According to Sharpe-Young, this underground circuit is divided into five major categories; doom metal, thrash metal, death metal, power metal and black metal.
Doom Metal
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Emerged in the mid-eighties with the American groups Saint Vitus, The Obsessed and Trouble, and by the Swedish Candlemass. This movement, unlike the other subgenres, uses slower tempos and with lyrics influenced by the early works of Black Sabbath. In simple terms, doom accentuates the melody using melancholic rhythms and a more depressed state of mind in relation to the other varieties of metal. In addition, and derived from these qualities, sludge metal emerged at the end of the decade, which mixes doom with hardcore punk, whose pioneering bands were Eyehategod and Crowbar.
According to critics, a new wave of doom metal began in 1991 with the appearance of the debut album Forest of Equilibrium by the English band Cathedral. the death/doom style of British bands such as Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride and Anathema appeared that gave birth to European gothic metal, with the main feature being the double vocal arrangements exemplified by the Norwegian Theater of Tragedy and Tristania and by New Yorkers Type O Negative.
Already in the early nineties and inspired by the first doom bands and traditional heavy metal, the Californians Kyuss and Sleep led the rise of stoner rock, while from Seattle the band Earth helped develop drone doom. In the late 1990s the last important groups of the genre were born; Goatsnake with a sound of stoner/doom and Sunn O))) who mix doom, drone and metal dark ambient.
Thrash metal
Emerged in the early eighties under the influence of speed metal, the New Wave of British heavy metal and the energy and aggression of hardcore punk . This movement began in the United States, mainly in the San Francisco Bay Area, which became known as Bay Area thrash metal. Their sound is characterized by being faster and more aggressive than classic metal and later glam metal, increasing the distortion of the guitars and using techniques such as scratching and the shred. For their part, their songs deal mainly with social issues using a violent and visceral language.
This subgenre was popularized by the so-called Big Four of thrash metal: Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax. Similarly, from Germany, the groups Kreator, Sodom, Destruction, and Tankard played a role central in bringing this genre to Europe, thus starting German thrash metal. Apart from Germany and the west coast of the United States, Overkill emerged from New Jersey, and Sepultura from Brazil, which also played a large part in the rise of the genre.
Although it was born from the underground scene, thrash achieved great commercial success in the early 1990s. Artists like Metallica and Megadeth positioned several of their albums at the top of the Billboard 200 list and with million-dollar sales that was reflected in various record certifications. With less success in sales, the bands Anthrax and Slayer managed to position some of their works in the top ten on various world charts. Other groups that achieved relative success during that time were the aforementioned Overkill and Sepultura, as well as Testament and Exodus.
Since the mid-nineties its popularity declined due to the changes in sound that many bands made and also due to the rise of new sounds such as grunge. However, thrash metal returned to gain strength in the mid-2000s with the appearance of new artists such as Violator, Evile, Warbringer, Municipal Waste and Suicidal Angels among many others, and by the return of several of its classic bands.
Death Metal
This extreme movement arose in the mid-eighties derived from the evolution of thrash, which according to MTV News: «Slayer's music was directly responsible for the birth of death metal". Born in both North America and Europe, from the beginning it emphasized various elements of profanity, satanism, violence and destruction, accompanied by aggressive and fast music and with constant changes in its tempo. Its main characteristics are its somber, deep and scratchy voices —called guttural voice—, distorted guitars and great speed in the percussion.
His main mentors are the Americans Death and Possessed, also considered the creators of the name of this subgenre due to the demo Death by Metal (1984) and the song Death Metal from the album Seven Churches (1985) respectively. The death metal scene took place in the eighties in Florida with the bands Death, Obituary, Morbid Angel and Deicide, while in the UK it was led by Napalm Death, Extreme Noise Terror and Carcass. At the beginning of the nineties a new wave of bands was born in Scandinavia, which finished defining this new style.
Lastly, and during the last decades it has undergone several innovations in its sound, which gave way to new subgenres and fusions such as melodic death metal, progressive death metal, brutal death metal, slam death metal, death n roll, deathcore and deathgrind, among others.
Black metal
It is a subgenre that, like death metal, derives from thrash, which is why they are very similar in terms of aggressiveness, power and the dark atmosphere it projects. However, they emphasize the mixture of the high voices, called shriek, with the almost guttural low voices, an extensive handling of the tremolo, a lo-fi production and the use of the corpse paint. The satanic theme is also common in their songs, although many groups take inspiration from ancient paganism, generating a return to the values of pre-Christianity. In addition, many bands also mix their sounds with other styles such as folk, classical music, electronic music and avant-garde.
The first wave of black metal emerged in the early eighties in Europe, led by the British Venom, the Danish Mercyful Fate, the Swiss Hellhammer and Celtic Frost and the Swedish Bathory. Later the Norwegians Mayhem and Burzum led the second wave. Finally and at the beginning of the following decade new bands from Germany, France and Poland began to appear.
In the early 1990s some groups from the Scandinavian black metal scene were associated with violence, especially the members of Mayhem and Burzum who were accused of burning down churches, which the press called the Inner circle. In this regard, Gaahl, former vocalist of Gorgoroth mentioned: "black metal never had the intention of reaching an audience... (We) had an enemy in common which was, of course, Christianity, socialism and everything that democracy means".
In 1996 when many thought the genre was stagnating, many key groups, including Burzum and Beherit, evolved towards a more ambient sound called dark ambient, while symphonic black metal was explored. by the Swedes Tiamat and the Swiss Samael. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the groups Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir brought black metal closer to the commercial circuit.
Power Metal
Power metal was born as a reaction to the harshness of extreme metal, being speed metal its key influence. Its main characteristic is its lyrics that range from medieval stories and events to fantasy and sometimes mythology. Despite being an underground style in North America, it enjoys a great popularity to this day. popularity in Europe, Japan and South America.
Emerged in the mid-eighties with the appearance of the German band Helloween, who established from their first albums a combination of fast riff with the shred, a melodic approach and "clean high voices" by Michael Kiske with influences from Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. Other bands of the so-called first wave, which emerged in the late 1980s, are the Swedish HammerFall, the German Blind Guardian or Gamma Ray (a spinoff from Helloween itself) and the Americans Iced Earth. Many of these bands adopted the rapidity of the New Wave of British heavy metal with the epic lyrics of Rainbow and Dio. In turn, other groups such as the Finnish Stratovarius and, already in the decade of the nineties, Kamelot, Nightwish, Sonata Arctica or Rhapsody of Fire began to use keyboards and organs that gave way to symphonic power metal.
During that same decade of the nineties, the movement generated great popularity in Europe with the appearance of new groups such as Edguy, Sabaton or Dragonforce to name a few. In addition, the subgenre reached the concert circuits with great success in South America, where the Brazilians Angra and the Argentines Rata Blanca were born.
Like many of the metal subgenres, several groups gave it new attributes that gave way to some subdivisions. The most important of these is progressive metal, which mixes the speed of power with the compositional complexity of progressive rock, especially Rush and King Crimson. This new style emerged in the United States led by Queensrÿche, Crimson Glory, Fates Warning and by Dream Theater.
The nineties and new trends
The arrival of the nineties greatly renewed the so-called golden age of heavy metal. On the one hand, glam metal began to lose popularity in the main markets of the world before the birth of grunge, led by bands like Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden. This new wave of groups were influenced by heavy metal, but rejected the excesses of many 1980s bands, such as flashy image and virtuoso guitar solos. i>thrash on the music charts and the emergence of the so-called groove metal were important points of this musical renewal.
Led by Perry Farrell, the band Jane's Addiction spearheaded a new musical style called alternative metal, which along with grunge largely commanded the music charts, record sales and live concerts during the early nineties. Even so, the more aggressive-sounding bands Pantera, White Zombie and Sepultura made waves in the United States, while Aerosmith and Guns N' Roses were one of the few groups that remained commercially viable. Also the appearance of the Lollapalooza festival served as a huge opportunity for new bands to become known.
In the same way, this new decade brought with it new trends, where emerging bands fused various musical genres with metal, thus creating new subgenres. Bands like Faith No More mixed alternative rock with funk, punk, metal and hip hop. For their part, bands like Primus, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Rage Against the Machine combined elements of funk with alternative metal, giving way to the so-called funk metal. In turn, the mixture of metal with the electronic sounds of synthesizers, samplers and keyboards resulted in industrial metal, led mainly by Rammstein, Ministry, Fear Factory and Nine Inch Nails. Another of the fusions that emerged at the beginning of the decade was rap metal, which emphasized the power and sound of metal with the rhythmic and linguistic complexity of rapping.
Lastly, and at the end of the nineties, nu metal was born in the United States, which combined the elements of alternative metal with hip hop and thanks to festivals like Ozzfest they managed to captivate the new generation of metalheads. Even so, this new style has not been recognized by the followers of heavy metal, who brand it as a posero. However, this subgenre achieved great acceptance in the world markets during the first years of the following decade, where groups such as Limp Bizkit, Slipknot, Deftones, Papa Roach, Linkin Park and KoRn managed to sell millions of copies. do you copy. But from 2005 the movement began to decline; on the one hand groups like Linkin Park and Disturbed changed their style and image approaching alternative metal and on the other groups like KoRn, Limp Bizkit and Maximum the Hormone continued to have success with nu metal although on a smaller scale.
In 1999, Billboard magazine announced that there were more than 500 radio stations in the United States specializing in metal music, nearly three times as many as ten years ago. These new stations reactivated the traditional heavy metal that during the decade was overshadowed by the emerging bands, where many of them broke up or released albums far from their classic sound, with various criticisms from both their followers and their fans. the press.
2000s and the return of classic metal
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The arrival of the new millennium brought with it a return of classical metal mainly in Europe, Latin America and Japan. Many of the bands that broke up returned to release new studio albums, many of them with their classic 1980s line-up, for example, Iron Maiden with Brave New World, Judas Priest with Angel of Retribution or Manowar with Warriors Of The World. In turn, in Scandinavia a new generation of bands began with great success in the markets, while countries like Belgium, the Netherlands and especially Germany became the most important markets for the genre in Europe.
Many of the groups that were born in the nineties within the underground circuit such as Blind Guardian, Nightwish, Children of Bodom, In Flames, HammerFall or The Haunted began to have great success in the European markets, with thousands of sales and participation in the main festivals of the old continent. In addition, some critics used the term retrometal that has been applied in the early and mid-2000s to groups such as the British The Darkness. and the Australians Wolfmother. This expression also alludes to the new bands that revive the sound of hard rock and heavy metal of the eighties, such as Steel Panther, Stone Gods, Hardcore Superstar, The Answer and Airbourne.
However, and during the early years of the decade, the last important subgenre emerged to this day, metalcore, considered a hybrid between extreme metal and the hardcore punk. Its roots come from the mid-eighties with the crossover thrash scene of groups such as Suicidal Tendencies, Dirty Rotten Imbeciles and Stormtroopers of Death. During the nineties remained an underground phenomenon led by the groups Earth Crisis, Hogan's Heroes, Converge, Hatebreed and Shai Hulud, but with the arrival of the 2000s some groups have managed to position themselves in the top positions charts, including Killswitch Engage with The End of Heartache and Shadows Fall with The War Within. Like all subgenres, many of their bands have attributed new sounds giving way to a series of subdivisions such as grindcore, deathcore and melodic metalcore to mention ar some.
Lastly, and since the middle of the previous decade, a new generation of bands began in the United States, which the press called the New Wave of American Heavy Metal and which is made up of various styles, including metal alternative, groove metal, nu metal and progressive metal for example. Some of their groups such as Machine Head, Mastodon, Lamb of God, Black Label Society or Avenged Sevenfold have had great commercial success in recent years and have even led several of the most important festivals in the world.